The tourism marketing mess

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner won the first big battle against hotel owners over how to operate the newly created Tourism Marketing District and how to spend $30 million intended to promote San Diego as a must-visit attraction. There is more skirmishing to come, but in the meantime San Diego’s tourism economy is taking a hit.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor said the language of the resolution creating the tourism district allowed Filner the discretion not to sign and implement the operating agreement negotiated by tourism officials and Mayor Jerry Sanders before he left office in December.

Maybe the hoteliers will appeal Taylor’s ruling, but that would take months. Maybe the City Council will direct the mayor to sign the contract. But it’s not clear whether there are five council votes to do that and, even if there are, Filner could veto it, which would then require six votes to override. Or maybe the hotel owners will decide to negotiate with the mayor, though he would obviously have the upper hand.

In other words, it’s all a mess – a mess that could have been avoided had the resolution been drafted differently, or if Sanders had signed the contract before giving the keys to the mayor’s office to Filner.

A tourism official said local hotels are already seeing a “huge” falloff in business from the lack of promotion. Here’s hoping for a quick resolution that all sides can live with.